The springfieled is a well made gun, many of my fellow officers carry one and none have any complaints. LE guns get used and abused, the XD's have held up well.
The 10mm was the wonder cartridge in the late 80's early 90's, but practical considerations for "smaller statured" FBI agents that couldnt handle the recoil forced the gun guru's at the FBI to load down the 10mm. The FBI light loads pushed a 180grain bullet at approx 900fps which still outperformed 9mm loads, but fell far short of what the full power 10mm loads produced.
Smith and Wesson in a brilliant marketing move took the 10mm, shortened the case and duplicated the ballistic performance of the FBI load 10mm. This shorter cased round would fit in a smaller 9mm sized gun and viola you have the new wonder round of the last two decades in law enforcement.
I personally have absolutely no use for the 40 S&W, if you want power in a small package then get a 357sig.
The 40 S&W is to the 10mm what the 380 auto is to the 9mm. Same sized bullet, but no where near the power.
Its interesting to note the 45ACP, most notably the single action 1911 style guns are the new rage in law enforcement. More and more departments in my area (mine included) are "rediscovering" John Browning's most famous of handguns.
As to your OP, you WILL NOT find a more versatile round than the 10mm. It can be had hard, heavy, and fast for hunting deer, hogs, and other medium sized game. Mid weighted like the Winchester 175gr silvertip which is a devastating stopper of all creatures two legged and four. There are a lot of loads for this round, and a lot of 10mm enthusiasts, just google 10mm and you'll find lots of information.
It is also known for its flat shooting, accuracy. Go with the 10mm Glock G20, one gun lots of uses.
Tom
